Started a new build on a surfboard kiteboard. I wanted to use materials that were locally available at your hardware store. I live in southern california and it's possible to get surfboard blanks, but I wanted to try to make a strong and durable board from scratch. Core is EPS. 1/8" plywood parabolic stringers and 1/8" plywood skinned deck and bottom. Not have a vacuum bag I had to get a little creative with how to get the plywood to conform to the curves of the deck and bottom concave. You'll see in the pics that I ended up cutting the 1/8" plywood skins into 16 sections before gluing them to the foam. The rails are pvc and are being epoxied on. I will probably complete the build with one layer 6oz fiberglass on each side. Might be a little more than needed, but it's what I have available, and should make for a very strong board.

Attachments

rail epoxied on

close up of the wood sections that make up the skinned top and bottom.

The foam that I used for the blank came in 1.5" sheets. It was easy to bend to the shape of the rocker and glue together. Used part of an extra foam sheet to build up the volume of the blank in the middle.

The Board is 5'8" x 21" x 2 1/4". Can't say there are any other online resources for the build. The foam is shaped like any other surfboard. (search on youtube for videos). If i had a vacuum bag, I would have done the wood skins that way. (also search youtube for vacuum bagging)I got the PVC rails at my local big hardware store (HD), look in the section that has wood trimming. These rails are actually waterproof trim for outdoor applications. It's a quarter round. Use two of them together and you've got a 50/50 rail. You can rough shape the rail to a 60/40 (modern shortboard rail) a Sureform. Make sure if you use lower density foam that you've got a vent plug. If the board gets hot (left in you car on a warm day) and doesn't a a vent plug, the wood skins can delaminate. There needs to be a way for the gasses given off by the low density foam to escape.

Board rides great, although I'm probably a little bias, as I built it. The board came out a little heavy when you compare it to a regular surfboard. Not such a bad thing, i think it helps it cut through the chop. If anyone is planning on doing this type of construction, I would suggest using a higher density foam. 1.5-2.0 lbs/sq ft. The foam i used was probably closer to 0.5 lbs/sq ft. The light density foam does not have the compression strength needed for Kiting IMO. I've got a couple of spots that have started to delam a little bit. It might just be my construction method. Maybe if i use a vacuum bag I would have gotten a better lamination between the wood skins and foam.